Lucasfilm to Marin: 'Our decision is final'

The one thing George Lucas can't afford is more delay, which is why the billionaire filmmaker's decision to bail out of a film studio project at Grady Ranch is final, Lucasfilm executives said Wednesday.

Lucas is grateful for the support he has received in recent days, but he can't wait any longer for a building permit, said Lynne Hale, director of communications at Lucasfilm.

Despite pleas by county officials and citizens across Marin County that Lucas get back on track at Grady Ranch, the company must move on because there is no way of knowing when it could proceed with development at the ranch, she said.

The film studio project is opposed by some residents who live at nearby Lucas Valley Estates, where a dormant homeowners' association was revived and hired a lawyer who warned two weeks ago that issues involving procedure, regulatory and related concerns posed "strong grounds for a legal challenge" if the county proceeded without a new environmental study and related community review. The county board, ready to approve the project, delayed action pending more study, while indicating future approval was all but certain.

Lucas, who spent millions of dollars and years of effort pursuing the film studio at Grady — even donating 800 acres of the ranch to the county Open Space District as part of the bargain when the county approved a larger version of the studio project in 1996 — concluded that the uncertain delay posed by more review and potential legal action was the last straw.

Saying "enough is enough," Lucasfilm issued a statement indicating its schedule of film projects requires a studio, pronto. The company, which had blocked the march of housing up rural Lucas Valley by acquiring a half-dozen ranches and preserving 6,000 acres as open space, added it would build the studio elsewhere while selling Grady to a developer interested in providing low-income housing in the Lucas Valley Estates area.

Hale, alerted to the outpouring of support for Lucasfilm during a Civic Center pep rally orchestrated by county supervisors Tuesday, told the Independent Journal that nothing has happened to change Lucas' mind.

"We truly appreciate all the support, but unfortunately it has come too late in the process," Hale said in a statement that recalled her assertion last week that "even with the support of the majority, the minority has the ability to drag the process out to the point it makes it impossible to do business."

After the rally Tuesday in which a capacity crowd turned out to join county supervisors in begging Lucas to reconsider, Hale indicated the decision was final.

"We thought long and hard about the decision to pull the application," she told the Independent Journal. "It was not easy but at the end of the day we can't run a business and not know when the studio will be built.

"We waited as long as we could. We must move on."

The project, which would be largely hidden from view, promised to bring hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars in tax revenue to Marin while boosting business coffers across the county. Lucasfilm has been bombarded with inquiries from locales across the state and nation eager to provide space for a studio in their backyards, and it is now weighing two alternate locations.

Hale's commentary seemed to dash hope raised by Supervisor Steve Kinsey on Tuesday that Lucas could have a change of heart. Kinsey reported Tuesday that Lucasfilm executives "are meeting this week to consider all options."

Tom Forster, director of community relations for Lucasfilm, said he thinks Kinsey's statement "about a meeting was born more from hope than anything."

In fact, Forster added, "Our decision is final. We are moving forward and hope that something good will come out of all of this. We encourage everyone else to do the same."

Kinsey and his colleagues, who refuse to accept no thanks for an answer, are scrambling to cut regulatory and other obstacles in a continuing bid to get Lucas back. Kinsey and colleague Susan Adams were scheduled to meet privately with regional water quality officials Wednesday afternoon in a bid to cut red tape tangling a creek restoration program that was part of the studio plan.

Marin County officials say residents can help in the effort to encourage Lucasfilm to develop Grady Ranch by sending comments to the county that will be delivered to Lucasfilm. Comments should be sent: By email to ReconsiderGradyRanch@marincounty.org. By regular post to the Marin County Board of Supervisors, 3501 Civic Center Drive, San Rafael 94903.